Sister Circle: Black Women and Work (Paperback)

by Sharon Harley (Editor), Black Women and Work Collective (Corporate Author)
Key Phrases: white aesthetic norms, black women scholars, black working women, New York, African American, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
Research on the employment of women and minorities has neglected the specific experience of black women, according to the contributors (scholars in a range of fields from economics to social science) of this collection of essays. They explore the meaning of work in the lives of black women facing the dual limitations of race and sex. They examine how black women's jobs affect their relationships with black men and white women (the lowest on the racial/sexual totem pole) and with their families and communities. The history of black women as workers, evolving from their being slaves and domestic workers to other types of employment in the present, has always seen them overrepresented in the labor force and concentrated at the lower end. The essays also provide a fascinating look at black women in the underground economy--juke joints and numbers running--as well as a survey of writing connecting black women's personal and professional lives. Each essay is preceded by a biographical sketch of the author. Absorbing reading. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
Although black women's labor was essential to the development of the United States, studies of these workers have lagged far behind those of working black men and white women. Adding insult to injury, a stream of images in film, television, magazines, and music continues to portray the work of black women in a negative light. Sister Circle offers an innovative approach to representing work in the lives of black women. Contributors from many fields explore an array of lives and activities, allowing us to see for the first time the importance of black women's labor in the aftermath of slavery. A brand new light is shed on black women's roles in the tourism industry, as nineteenth-century social activists, as labor leaders, as working single mothers, as visual artists, as authors and media figures, as church workers, and in many other fields. A unique feature of the book is that each contributor provides an autobiographical statement, connecting her own life history to the subject she surveys. The first group of essays, "Work It Sista!" identifies the sites of black women's paid and unpaid work. In "Foremothers: The Shoulders on Which We Stand," contributors look to the past for the different kinds of work that black women have performed over the last two centuries. Essays in "Women's Work through the Artist's Eyes" highlight black women's work in literature, drama, and the visual arts. The collection concludes with "Detours on the Road to Work: Blessings in Disguise," writings surveying connections between black women's personal and professional lives.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press (July 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 081353061X
• ISBN-13: 978-0813530611
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
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• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #105,335 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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